Criminal
Justice

DA
Report Card ~ March 2006
From Disappointment to Disaster

At the end of Passalacqua's
first year as Sonoma County District Attorney our report card was
titled "D for Disappointment"; disappointment that Passalacqua
seemed incapable and unwilling to carry out his campaign promises
to end the abuses that riddled the office. Now, two years later,
our assessment goes from Disappointment to Disaster. Added to broken
promises, Passalacqua's done significant damage to the office, and
worse yet, to the cause of justice for the community that is his
mandate. Here's our report.

In his campaign, Passalacqua
promised to utilize the legal talent in his office and to end
his predecessor's abuses of personnel. Instead, Passalacqua has
presided over an unprecedented loss of the office's legal brain
trust. At least 19 of the 43 attorneys in the office have left
or been driven out during Passalacqua's tenure.

Most disturbing is
that so many of those who have left were top-tier prosecutors
in the office. Moreover, many were top-tier female prosecutors,
each of whom had anchored the office with solid felony violence-against-women
prosecution skills. This kind of damage cannot be easily repaired.
Nor can it be explained, as Passalacqua attempts to do, by those
who retired.

~ Failed to Improve
Rape/Domestic Violence Prosecution Rates

For the year 2005,
our DA's domestic violence prosecution rate stands at 48% which
is a mere 5 or 6 percentage points over DA Mullins' rate.* Mullins
was ousted in large part because his domestic violence prosecution
rate was one of the lowest in the state. Passalaqua's rape prosecution
rate is also unimproved, in fact is no better than 15 years ago.
In 2005, of the 177 rapes of adults reported to police agencies
in Sonoma County only 7 resulted in a prison sentence, and another
13 cases resulted in sentencing to a year or less in jail.

In addition, Passalacqua
has reduced the overall number of prosecutors assigned to violence
against women and children from Mullin's 6 full time attorneys
to now 4.5. This has led to a further deterioration of communication
with victims rather than the promised improvements.

Passalacqua covers
for these core failures with thick empty rhetoric about caring
for victims and with his delusional, 3 year fixation on establishing
a Family Justice Center in Sonoma County. Though such a center
based on the San Diego model is not a bad idea in and of itself,
the proposal for Sonoma County has been broadly vetted, discussed,
hashed and rehashed, and rejected many times as unrealistic for
our county. Nonetheless, for three years now, Passalacqua continues
to dress-up and drag this dead horse out in front of the public
- because it's the only one he's got.

~ Been Responsible
for a Drop of More Than 50% In Victims Assistance Funds to Local
Victims

The Victim Assistance
Program is the local branch of the state crime victim compensation
fund. Though funds given to victims are state funds, our DA's
office is responsible for processing individual victim's claims.

Under Passalacqua,
these critical funds to local victims have gone down by over 50%.
For the year 2003, $710.000 went to local crime victims. In 2004,
only $346.000 went to local victims, and in 2005, only $374.000.*
Passalacqua wrongly blames this on the state reduction of fund
distribution - but the state reduction was only 20%. From day
one, Passalacqua has ignored the constant complaints he's received
about his mismanagement of this program - including those from
his own victim advisory committee. Despite hiring a new director
last fall, there is no way to undo the terrible harm he has caused
to thousands of victims.

~ Scrimped on Spanish
Language Accessibility

One of Passalacqua's
key campaign promises was to make the DA's office accessible to
Latinos who constitute 1 out of every 5 people in the county.
Early on Passalacqua hired a bilingual dv counselor, a bilingual
receptionist, and one Latina/o attorney. To be sure, this made
a pinhole opening in what was previously an impervious wall. But
from that point, progress toward creating meaningful access for
the Spanish-speaking community quickly came to a screeching halt.

There was only one
more bilingual hire, no office policy set to assure that all were
committed to equal access to non-English speakers, and no Language
Line training. Like his other promises, Passalacqua's campaign
centerpiece promise of language accessibility was made more to
get him elected than to bring justice and protection to the Latino
community.

* Statistics in this
report based on DA and Police responses to Women's Justice Center
3/06 public information act requests.

The
Gutting of Miriam's Office

Miriam Gaon is
Sonoma County's most veteran victim advocate. Knowledgeable
and conscientious, Miriam has worked for victims in our
DA's office for 17 years. She has particular expertise in
adult and child sex crimes, and in homicide cases.

Miriam's office
sits midway down the long, stark DA hallway of one somber
attorney's office after another. It used to be a room chock-a-block
full of empowering wall posters, children's toys, local
victim stories, comfortable chairs, and colorful pictures
everywhere. It was an upbeat oasis in an otherwise bleak
DA's office. Over the years, Miriam's office embraced the
fears and bolstered the fortitude of literally thousands
of victims and witnesses in Sonoma County as they've waited
to testify or discuss their cases with prosecutors.

Two years ago,
DA Passalacqua ordered Miriam to strip the office bare of
every last item and remnant in the office, leaving only
the adjoining children's room intact. In one day, the powerfully
supportive environment Miriam had created for victims over
the years, along with its significant local victim history,
was wiped out.

Passalacqua said
he planned to replace it all with pastoral scenes. This,
in itself, reflects Passalacqua's penchant for patronizing
and pacifying victims, rather than empowering them. But
today, two years later, the walls of Miriam's office remain
completely bare, a sad monument only to the emptiness of
Passalacqua's promises. Fortunately, Miriam recognizes the
value of what was removed and has stored everything in her
garage in anticipation of saner days to come.